Hameed Ullah
Hazara University, Pakistan
Title: Synthesis and characterization of nanodiamonds-zinc oxide nanocomposites by ball milling technique
Biography
Biography: Hameed Ullah
Abstract
Zinc Oxide (ZnO) is one of the very important transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) for applications in optoelectronic devices, which work in the blue and UV regions [1]. The importance of ZnO as an optoelectronics material is due to its wide bandgap (3.37 eV) and larger binding energy (60 meV) [2]. However, to meet the demands of highly versatile ZnO nanomaterials for practical applications, various modifications in physico-chemical characteristics are required. The characteristics of ZnO could be effectively tuned by tuning the microstructure. One way for altering the properties is the synthesis of ZnO nanocomposite with various materials. Here we report upon the doping of ZnO with nanodiamonds (NDs) to effectively alter its optoelectronic properties. The doping is performed by ball milling technique. The effects of NDs contents upon the microstructure and subsequently, upon the characteristics of ZnO has been investigated in detail. The synthesis of the ND/ZnO nanocomposites are monitored by using different characterization techniques including IR spectroscopy, powder X-rays diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-rays spectroscopy (EDX). The optoelectronic characteristics are studied by using ultraviolet-visible (UVV) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. It has been found that the band gap decreases with increasing contents of NDs (Fig. 1). The red shift promises the use of ND/ZnO nanocomposite in solar cells, and photocatalysis system operating in the visible range of the sunlight spectrum.